Curious George - Microphone Best Buys I know that this very topic was discussed here before, but when I did a search it seems that it was lost in the great server crash of 04. I have a couple of good lavs that I use for my video work, but have struggled by without owning a hand held mic or a boom mic for a while, either renting or borrowing them from friends. I just bought a "butt plug" transmitter and receiver for a hand mic and would like to get one (i.e. a quality hand mic) that I can use for ENG type stuff as well as doing VO in my edit bay. I also would like to buy a high quality boom mic rig and in a perfect world the same mic could be used as an on camera mic when the situation calls for that sort of shooting. more inside

What is an American movie now? (NYT) Talk amongst yourselves.

Where the Wild Things Walk {mov}

Independant World Television I was at this conference and one of the speakers was Paul Jay, of CBC's Counter Spin. He very passionately spoke about this: the idea of a world independant media, not owned by a corporation and completely dependant on donations. Apparently it should get off the ground by 2006. Good idea? Complete flop? Will you get behind it?

Wacky Robots are ideal greeters. The programmable sign on the pianist cat combined with music and repartee will entertain and inform your company guests. Captain Wacky will communicate with your customers whilst riding around the venue distributing literature. WE WILL DRESS THEM TO SUIT THE OCCASION

Was H.P. Lovecraft a believer in the paranormal? - Lovecraft has been called the most influential horror writer of the 20th Century, & that is arguably true. To what extent did Lovecraft actually understand the Occult? And is the only logical answer to this 'Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fthagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nfah Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn'? Fortean Times has the answer.

? It's a flash . . horse . . interactive . . singy thing. I'm not sure what it is but it's sort of funny and sort of brilliant.

What would it look like if millions of spiders spun webs in one place? For reasons that area scientists don't really understand, millions and millions of tiny black spiders called Halorates ksenius - they have no common name - became trapped in Russell Jervis' clover field and started spinning webs.

The National Toy Hall of Fame - the greatest toys ever? I think Plasticine was far superior to Play-Doh, and I've never heard of Lincoln Logs, but I'd agree with the majority of these. I think I'd nominate a train set (Hornby 00 gauge?) or possibly Scalextric??

Metafilter has turned on signups for new users. At least as of 7:19 EST the new user link was turned on at MetaFilter, Matt is asking for a $5 donation to sign up. more inside

Mk, let's try this again... I bounced around the idea of a Monkey Secret Santa for Chrismukkah a few months ago, but the entire thing sort of died following the Great Purge of 2004. I'm still up for it if you are. more inside

Joint Stereo MP3s: The Myths and the Realities. A link for all those monkeys who are getting into mp3s, but aren't as advanced as our resident music fanatic forksclovetofu.

The Future of Media "In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned. What happened to the news? And what is Epic?" This is a fascinating flash movie from 10 years in the future describing the development of the history of media. Created by the bloggers at Snarkmarket.

Clotaire Rapaille is an evil genius marketer who cracks psychological "codes" while delivering crazy-sounding quotes. Did I mention he lives like a king in a Castle in upstate NY? Well, he does. Frontline interview here.

"And what was the key element of safety when you were a child? It was that your mother fed you, and there was warm liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely crucial for safety."

solipsistic.org. Description? Um, anachronistic dada? You may have seen me discover this site at another site, or not. It's more better to share it here, I think, than there, for now. Click gently and with a free associatin' frame of mind, and gems await. Really.

Woman breastfeeds dog A New Zealand woman says she is breastfeeding her Staffordshire bull terrier pup because she wants the dog to protect her baby girl as the pair grow up. bugmenomore nohassles

Image of Virgin Mary on old toast fetching thousands of hits on ebay The end of civilization is surely upon us. more inside

Mmmmmm.... Get your daily dose of Vitamin L! Whoever said British cuisine was dead?

Economists. [Flash]

Distance running shaped human evolution. "Our African ancestors may have been talented endurance athletes." But now that we have MonkeyFilter, we can spend the day sitting.